How to Correctly Backup Win7 Bootcamp Parallels VM

Hi, I have a MacBook Pro running Mavericks and Windows 7 Professional on a BootCamp instance of the hard drive. I know I can't use the SmartGuard feature with BootCamp, but I am confused on what I should be using.

Parallels 9.0.24172
Mac OSX 10.9.2
Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit

So under the Security tab of Parallels Configure, I see that the check box for "Time Machine: Do not back up virtual machine" is unchecked. Does this mean that, my Time Machine backups are indeed backing up my virtual environment already? If so to what extent exactly, is it just copying the PVM files? And if it is copying them, is that considered a complete backup? Can I completely recreate my VM, with all of the configuration and licensed applications included, from scratch if necessary, using just these files in my Time Machine backup? Is this what the user manual references when it says, "Configure the regular backup settings on the Security tab of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog"? If so, the only setting I can see is to either check or uncheck the box mentioned earlier.

The user manual references a couple other options for backing up the VM. The first is "Snapshots" and makes it sound like this is all done on the Security tab of Configure also. "You can configure how the VM snapshots will be created or choose to backup the VM with Time Machine". However I don't see any available settings on the Security tab for this. Are snapshots a better way to backup the VM, and if so, how would I go about doing this?

The second method mentioned is a "Clone" of the virtual machine. Again, is this a better way to backup the VM than either of the other two?

I am just looking for the best way to be able to recreate my current VM from scratch if necessary, say if it becomes corrupt or the hard drive fails. The obvious concern is that, a new MAC address is assigned to every new VM and therefore none of the licensed windows applications are installable again. Including the Windows OS itself. I have several purchased windows applications installed on my current Parallels Desktop VM, and am trying to safeguard against any unforseen VM failures that, would cause these product keys to no longer be valid.

I've tried to figure this out using the User's Guide, but it just does't explain which option is the best, and how to employ it in a "BootCamp" environment.

Thanks,

 

TM and Clone backups do not work for Bootcamp based VMs.

Both methods rely on the OS X file system (HFS+), and a Bootcamp VM is stored in a NTFS partition. For backing up your Windows machine you should treat it as a normal PC, using a Windows specific backup solution.

I can suggest Winclone: http://www.twocanoes.com/winclone/
Which makes an image of your Windows bootcamp installation that can be restored from scratch.

 

"For backing up your Windows machine you should treat it as a normal PC, using a Windows specific backup solution."

So can this Windows Backup be done from within the Parallels VM, or am I required to actually boot the device into Windows using BootCamp?

Thanks,

 

Depends on what program you're using for backup, if you're backing up the whole partition or only the data on it. Windows itself has a backup functionality, that will work while running in Parallels.